asked the Minister for Finance if he is in a position to have printed and circulated amongst members of the Oireachtas a table setting forth the existing rates of subsistence allowance granted to the officers in the several Departments of the Civil Service and categorically arranged in respect of (a) class, (b) period, and (c) scales of salary of recipients.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - CIVIL SERVICE SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES.
Existing rates of subsistence allowances have in the past been fixed in different circumstances for a large number of different classes of travelling officers. The rates for officers of the same salary differ somewhat between one Department and another. Generally speaking, however, the rates now regarded as appropriate for officers with the same salaries are the same throughout the Civil Service. I am prepared to issue, for the information of Deputies, a table setting forth these general rates. The higher rates of subsistence have recently been reduced and the rates now payable are those that were in force before 1914. These rates are again under investigation with a view to ascertaining whether in some cases they require further modification, having regard to the actual present cost of living away from home. It is intended that so far as possible the revised rates should be applied uniformly in the service.